


moonlight

by cloudburst



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 13:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19111030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudburst/pseuds/cloudburst
Summary: “Can you swim, Commander?” Bellanaris’ voice travels upwards – smooth and unobstructed like the surface of the lake he now treads in. Cullen has never seen someone so beautiful.





	moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> smth a little longer than drabble length? check! i've been really wanting to write fluff lately tho i've always been a gloom and doom angst person so who knows abt this

“To believe that everything is as it should be, for just this moment, is a nice thought. No matter how fleeting it may be.” 

Bellanaris places a lingering kiss to his lips, arms wrapping around the Commander’s shoulders as he slowly exhales. The warm breath against Cullen’s face remains, making his entire body feel warm – starting from his neck to the tips of his toes. The Inquisitor kisses him again as the Commander’s arms rest low around his waist. 

“It must be the coin you attempted to give me the last time we were here. Our luck has not yet run out.”

The smile on Cullen’s face is genuine – light, pulling at the edges of his lips till he fears the smile can spread no more. This is how it has been since he kissed Bellanaris on the battlements. This is how it has been since he realized he can have this. 

“I hope that it never does.”

The Commander believes that the Inquisitor is leaning in to place another kiss to his lips, and Cullen is ready to take it – lovestruck and dumb. He is gone. However, this is not the case, as Bellanaris removes himself from Cullen’s embrace, lithe body peeling off the light overshirt and dropping it to the dock. He strips down to what Cullen believes the Maker blessed him with – Andraste’s ass – and jumps in the water. Perhaps jump is not the correct word, Cullen thinks, as he watches Bellanaris surface. He leapt into the expanse below as though he had done it hundreds of times. For all the Commander knew, he had. 

The Inquisitor looks up to Cullen, treading the water without sound – dark brown hair pooling in the water around him, spreading till it appears to Cullen that Bellanaris owns the lake, and it exists to hold him. (This is how Cullen feels about any environment the Inquisitor finds himself in. Skyhold was meant to be his – there was no one else who could occupy it – and Cullen’s chest was the same, meant to hold nothing but the strength of his feeling for him. The world is his.) 

“Can you swim, Commander?” Bellanaris’ voice travels upwards – smooth and unobstructed like the surface of the lake he now treads in. Cullen has never seen someone so beautiful. 

“I-,” Cullen begins, but chokes on his words as the Inquisitor disappears beneath the water. He comes back up after a moment, nearer to the dock from which he had jumped. 

“Mabari got your tongue?” And Cullen can hear the laughter in his voice, can see the mirth in his green eyes. 

“Maker’s breath, only you’ve got my tongue. Don’t bring Mabaris into this.” With that, Cullen begins to follow in the Inquisitor’s footsteps, and he prays to the Maker that Leliana does not need them – that no one needs them, and the scout he had assigned to notify him if anything goes wrong has no need for approach. He prays to have this moment. He speaks as he walks to the edge of the dock, words flowing out before he far-less-gracefully enters the water: “And yes, I can swim.” 

The following splash is accompanied by laughter, the night barely beginning to overtake the sky above them. Bellanaris swims to Cullen, embracing him where the both of their feet can touch the bottom – just barely, just enough so he can cling to the Commander without need for purchase. “That was graceful, Commander. This must be the reason you lead my forces. Who would not follow a man of such grace into battle?”

Cullen huffs out a breath of laughter, his hands coming out of the water to run through the Inquisitor’s hair – pushing the wet strands away from his face, behind the high-pointed ears that extend far upward. “You say that about me, yet who would not follow you? I would follow you to the ends of the earth and beyond.” There is a kiss placed to the Inquisitor’s scalp, and the moment is forever swallowed by the noises of the water.

Cullen plays with the braid at Bellanaris’ scalp as the Inquisitor presses a quick kiss to his lips, pushing away from him via the bottom of the lake, using his legs to propel him backward. “You say you would follow me, but I’m sure that you can’t even catch me.”

“Is that a challenge?”

The Inquisitor laughs, a sound that Cullen cannot believe he has caused. “Oh, most definitely.”

Cullen did not realize how difficult of a challenge it would be. Just as he would approach Bellanaris, he dodged – disappearing under the water, only to resurface much farther away than Cullen would hope to achieve. He sighs, seeing that the only way to end his inability to hold the elf is to relent. “I fear I will not be able to live up to the task of catching you.” He speaks matter-of-factly, as if this was always going to be the end result. Perhaps it was. “Bellanaris?”

But the Inquisitor has not heard him, several feet away, hair pooling around his shoulders. He looks to the moon, and jumps when Cullen rests his hand on his shoulder, though he eagerly leans into the gentle press of feeling when he returns to reality – turning to face Cullen, shining beneath the light of early night. The water reflects in his green eyes, and Cullen is in love. He has known this for some time. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yes.” Bellanaris places a kiss to the hollow of Cullen’s throat – the place where he can most easily make contact without trying, without moving too much. “I was thinking of swimming when I was a child. I love to swim, though I did not get to do so often, as we roamed much colder lands.” 

Cullen hums, bringing Bellanaris against him, although the Inquisitor at first seems reluctant to allow himself to be pulled inward. 

“I always felt safe in the water, for many of the humans who would come for us did not know how to swim. I am not sorry I allowed my thoughts to wander, but I am sorry you must be burdened with them.”

Cullen looks to him, then. “You are never a burden. You are everything.”

Bellanaris looks to where Cullen’s arms rest around his waist, holding him gently – so he could escape further into the water if needed. There is a moment he appears lost in thought – contemplative. He makes up his mind. “Looks like you’ve caught me, Cullen. I believe that is deserving of reward.”

They would speak more of this later – of Cullen’s love for him, of Lavellan’s past – but in that moment, Cullen thanked the Maker, for only he knew of the blessings bestowed upon him.

**Author's Note:**

> lmk how ya feel, or have anything u'd like 2 see for this pairing ily


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